Telangana doctor rape-murder case: Police plan to seek custody of 4 accused

Hyderabad, Dec 1: Police probing the rape and murder of the 25-year-old woman veterinary doctor on the city outskirts said on Sunday that they planned to file a petition in court, seeking custody of the four accused of further interrogation.

The four men, all lorry workers, were arrested on Friday for allegedly raping and killing the woman. The accused were sent to judicial custody for 14 days by the executive magistrate who passed the order at the Shadnagar police station, where they were lodged, as they could not be produced in court due to the presence of a large number of protesters in front of the police station. Stones were hurled at a police vehicle on Saturday as the accused were being taken to the jail in Hyderabad, and police used mild force to control the crowd.

The charred body of the woman, working as an assistant veterinarian at a state-run hospital was found under a culvert in Shadnagar near here on November 28 morning, a day after she went missing, police had said. "As part of further investigation, we are thinking of filing a custody petition shortly," a senior police official told PTI. It (custodial interrogation) may be done in the jail itself," the official said. He debunked reports in a section of the press that one of the accused had sexually assaulted the dead body.

"The accused, who were drunk, had also attempted to forcibly make the victim drink liquor, but she did not do so", the official said. Asked if the lorry driver would also be arrested, he replied in the negative, saying the man was a witness.